Notes
Long run out of Ephraim’s house. Pretty small group once again, consisting of Ephraim, Wolfgang, Pickleseimer, Spinney, and Sanjay (plus one more who I cant remember his name). My goal for the day was to get in a few easy warmup miles, settle to a 6:30-6:55 pace, then for the last 5 or 6, drop down to around 6:00 MP.
Left Ephraim’s house and the snow picked up in intensity. Was warm, so opted for shorts and a long sleeve tech shirt. Didn’t want to get soaked with the newly discovered snow, so made a last minute switch to my lightweight jacket. Told the group to go-ahead and I’d catch up. Must have wasted over a minute fumbling with my car to change and settled into a nice 6:10 mile “warmup” to catch up to the group.
The next five miles were a comfortable warm-up, all above 7:00 paces. Got to heartbreak and decided to start working the pace a little more. A little further on comm ave, found a house undergoing constructed and briefly departed from the group once again to utilize their portapotty. Unfortunately this once again left me in catch-up mode, dropping two more 6:00 miles to get back to the front group. Rest of the way to the finish and back to An Tua Nua was a comfortable 6:45-ish pace with Wolfgang, Pickle, and Ephraim.
At the 14 mile mark, decided it was time to make my move and get in some quicker miles. Figured 5 miles at MP with a mile cooldown would round-out the 20 miler nicely. I always forget how this stretch feels like you’re constantly running uphill. Missed the pace on the first mile, but had to battle a lot of cars and bad footing. Always struggle with the first MP mile anyway, so not too concerned. The rest were right around where I wanted them to be. Mile 18 was off a little, as that hill on Beacon next to BC always seems to kick my ass. I was absolutely wiped by the time I hit the end of it, but made up for it with a 5:51 right after (with the benefit of it pretty much being all downhill at that point on).
Average pace for the run was around 6:33. Overall felt comfortable throughout and with the exception of doing the MP miles uphill, didn’t feel like I was struggling. Was definitely tired by the end of the run though.
Quick shower at Ephraims and then it was straight to the office for work for the rest of the day.